New York|At Princeton, Women Make Strides at Clubs That Once Barred Them

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At Princeton, Women Make Strides at Clubs That Once Barred Them

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Grace Larsen outside of the Tiger Inn dining club in Princeton on Friday. Ms. Larsen is the first female president of the club.CreditCreditJessica Kourkounis for The New York Times

By Spencer Parts

Feb. 20, 2015

PRINCETON, N.J. — Princeton University’s 11 eating clubs are where most of its upperclassmen go for dinner every night, as the name implies.

But the name also understates the significance of the clubs in the social lives of Princeton students. Winning a leadership role is a sign of status and achievement, and the clubs’ parties are widely considered the exclamation point for the week.

One of the oldest clubs, Tiger Inn, has long carried a reputation for partying a little harder than most. It also had, by many accounts, a reputation for insensitivity to female students, and two of its officers were removed last fall after sending emails that ridiculed women.

But this week, Tiger Inn made news of a different sort: For the first time since the university began admitting women in 1969, it elected a woman, Grace Larsen, as its president.

Ivy Club, the oldest eating club, recently elected its second female president, Eliza Mott. Ivy and Tiger Inn were the last two clubs to admit women, and only did soon after a 1990 court order. Women are in charge at four of the clubs, the highest total since 2002 and three more than last year.

“I think the consensus that the club came to this year is that we’re establishing a culture where women are running, and women are winning,” Liz Lian, 22, a senior in Ivy from Chester, N.J., said.

The trajectory for women at Princeton, however, has not been steady. A 2011 report on women’s leadership at the university, whose student body is evenly divided between the sexes, found that “there has been a pronounced drop-off in the representation of women in these prominent posts since 2000.”

The report attributed the imbalance to factors that included a tendency for women to undersell themselves, and to seek important roles in smaller organizations or high-responsibility but low-profile roles in larger ones. Some women also were discouraged from seeking high-profile positions.

While women at Princeton in the early days of coeducation felt a need to prove themselves, the report said, that feeling had faded. The report said that encouraging women to become leaders on campus would make them more comfortable with leadership, and called for mentor programs.

“It’s an important thing to have female representation,” said Ms. Mott, 20, of Grosse Pointe, Mich., the president of Ivy Club. “Perceptions change and new precedents are set.”

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Eliza Mott on campus at Princeton on Friday. Ms. Mott was the second woman elected president of the Ivy Club. After being forced by court order in 1990, Ivy Club admitted women members.CreditJessica Kourkounis for The New York Times

Ms. Mott, who is studying art history, is also the president of SpeakOut Princeton, a student organization that discusses sexual violence and consent on campus, an issue preoccupying colleges nationwide.

Princeton is no exception — the university was found in violation of Title IX regulations regarding its handling of sexual harassment and assault complaints last fall. The eating clubs, which are privately owned but often work with the administration, have focused on addressing issues of sexual misconduct, said Joseph Margolies, the student president of the Interclub Council, a group that coordinates efforts between the clubs. He added that leadership roles for women were part of that discussion.

New urgency was given to the effort in December, when Tiger Inn removed the two officers for sending the emails. One email contained a sexually explicit photograph; the other took aim at Sally Frank, the alumna whose lawsuit forced Tiger Inn to admit women. Around the time those emails circulated, someone painted the words “rape haven” on the club’s stone fence.

The stumbles led Tiger Inn’s graduate board, which oversees the club, to work to change how members and officers are chosen.

“We had some challenges in the fall, and a lot of those challenges had to do with a mind-set around gender issues,” Hap Cooper, 55, the president of the graduate board, said.

This year, Tiger Inn accepted more women than men, a first in its history, according to Mr. Cooper. All officers were elected — half used to be appointed — and votes were cast via a more accountable online platform. In addition to Ms. Larsen, two women and three men were also elected to officer positions.

“The grad board and the club worked as a group to achieve gender parity in the election,” Mr. Cooper said.

But one student, who said she became disillusioned by the club and dropped out of it this semester, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she feared retribution from members, wondered if the changes were lasting or just damage control.

The negative attention also resulted in the club’s advocates for female leadership being taken more seriously, she said. “Now these people have more of a voice,” she said. “Before they would have been laughed out of town.”

Ivy’s elections also resulted in a gender-balanced group of officers, which had not happened in recent years. Ms. Mott said that she was excited about that, and encouraged by the opportunities for change given the short institutional memory of the club.

Also buoyed by the results was Ms. Frank, now 55, the woman who took on the male-only clubs and won.

“It’s extremely gratifying,” she said. “The election isn’t going to end all sexism on Princeton’s campus. But it can help.”

A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 15 of the New York edition with the headline: At Princeton, Women Make Strides at Clubs That Once Barred Them. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe